Not sure what this is. I've tried replacing the belt to no avail. I have a tensioner tool and have tightened the belt to spec. The squeak isn't constant, it goes away sometimes (at idle and while driving). Here's a good video of the noise. Appears to be coming from the idler pulley area.


Also, I noticed what appears to be some of the new belt rubbing off on the water pump pulley. Is this something to be concerned about?

 

With the belt off, tighten the idler pulley so it doesnt wobble, then give it a spin. Let it spin free. Should be relatively silent. If it sounds rough or wobbles, replace it. Just to be sure, give the a/c pulley, alternator pulley, fan pulley and power steering pulley a spin as well. And check the balancer to make sure it is not digging into the timing cover. It can chew right thru it. And squeak.

Are you sure thats rubber on the pump pulley, and not caked on dirt? Either way it should come right off using a knife, or even the tip of a flat blade screwdriver. Check the belt for damage. If that IS rubber from the new belt, that belt was bad to begin with imo. I have never seen a belt do that tho. Not even an old belt. It was always dirt that got burnished by the belt.

 

check your distributor. remove the cap and see if the shaft wobbles when you move it by hand. if so, then your shaft bearings are worn out. Either replace entire distributor or rebuild the one you have.

 

It's a 2000, so I don't have a distributor. I should have mentioned that in my first post, sorry. Also, 185K miles on the clock.

 

All the pulleys seem smooth. The idler pulley is smooth but sounds like there's some sand in there or something. Kind of hard to tell. I removed it, cleaned it and even put some grease around the bolt hole/mounting flange and it still makes this noise.

It's definitely rubber from the new belt. The belt appears to be fine...some of the white lettering rubbed off. Maybe I over tightened it?

Anyhow, this noise didn't happen before I replaced the head. It's only started after I reassembled everything. Should I try replacing the pulley? They don't seem very expensive.

 

Quick update for anyone interested. This turned out to be the power steering pump. The pump would squeak after I removed the belt and turned it by hand. While I was in there I put in a new idler pulley, belt and power steering pump pulley. This fixed the squeak and also fixed a slight whine I had under acceleration.

 

Good job, thanks for the update.